* Chesworth Farm.

Back in the summer of 2016 there was a little meeting at a place called Chesworth Farm that is located in the old market town of Horsham. The meeting was set up by the Horsham Riverside Walk Team and included a Horsham Council rep called Paul, some Riverside Walk organizers Jill and Jane, 2 Regional DR reps Val and Bob and 2 local Horsham DR members Paula and David.  The point of the meeting was to air ideas on improving access through some of the more tricky gates in the area mainly on the riverside walk route.  As most of you know, Kissing gates sure can end a disabled ramble fast.

The meeting went very well and within a week things started to happen to gates around other parts of Horsham.  Joining us we had a Friends Of Chesworth Farm member on a scooter who asked if any further discussion on Chesworth’s gates could include The Friends Of Chesworth Farm Team, this was agreed and contact was made.  Initial emails with Chesworth Farm were very positive indeed and later some ideas were even discussed at the Chesworth Friends yearly meeting.  As a result of all this,  many months on we now have this Improved Gateway.

The newest gateway improvements at Chesworth are now giving more easy access to a Boardwalk with a Waterfall view, a Bird Hide, The farm’s animals, Water birds, Wild wetland, Dog splash, The River Arun and much more. Chesworth Farm is a wonderful place to visit if you are near the area, you can see some of nature’s treasures up close. The access story continues here though,  Chesworth has done lots of work recently that also help’s disabled people to use the farm,  this new path has been built giving access to yet another scooter friendly gate onto the farm.

And there is more still,  there have been many major path improvements around the farm,  some paths giving scooters multiple ways in and out. My personal favorite upgrade on the farm is an ultra cool wheelchair and scooter friendly Llama Lookout, what an awesome surprise this was.

Things don’t always happen immediately when campaigning but good things may just happen if you try,  be patient and remember councils and other staff are often very busy,  funds are often short,  your request may join a very long list of pending jobs.  I am lucky that many people in my area try hard to help out once they are made aware of a problem. 

On behalf of all disabled people that will enjoy Chesworth Farm now and in the future,  I would like to thank everyone involved in all the works and extra special thanks to : –

Horsham District Council.

The Friends Of Chesworth Farm.

The Riverside Walk Team.

Disabled Ramblers Reps.

Sincerely

David Leadbetter